By Rosemary Chance                   June 2010 TeacherLibrarian

At first glance the mission of family literacy programs is clear.  These programs help children and their parents improve their literacy skills.

What could be simplier?  Invite children and their parents to a school library where children learn to read better and parents learn how to help their children read better.  Teacher-librarians and classroom teachers plan sessions where the parents bring their young children to the school, the children are read to, and the parents are shown how to read aloud to their children and how to discuss books with their children.  Children will experience success in school and parents will participate more in their children's education.

This basic concept seems reasonable, but a simple vision of family literacy does not fit neatly into our 21st century society.  To fully understand family literacy programs we need to consider the following questions... 

This article is the Feature Article in the June 2010 issue of TeacherLibrarian: The Journal for School Library Professionals.  It can be accessed on their website at http://www.teacherlibrarian.com   Look for the Digital TeacherLibrarian and click to download or read.